String binder assemblage and package



Aug. 14, 1945.

H. W. GORDON Filed larch 19, 1943 Patented Aug. 14, 1945 STRING BINDER ASSEMIBLAGE AND t PACKAGE Harry W. Gordon, Worcester, Mass., asslgnor to United States Envelope Company, Springfield, Mass., a corporation of Maine Application March 19, 1943, Serial No. 479,716

1 Claim.

The present invention relates to binders adapted to be used generally in the place and stead of rubber or elastic bands. The wide and general use heretofore of rubber bands, for the encirclement of packages, papers and for various other purposes, is no longer possible owing to the curtailment of the rubber supply; moreover such rubber bands, in many of the uses to which they were previously put, were unsatisfactory because of their impermanence-it being well known that rubber deteriorates so rapidly when exposed to sunlight or even to moderate heat, that rubber bands used as binders are subject to frequent breakage and have a relatively-short life.

My invention overcomes these diiilculties by providing binders composed essentially of string and paper, which can be applied to packages, and to articles that are to be bound together, with substantially the same facility as rubber bands, and can be used over and over again without danger of breakage or need for replacement, being in this respect far superior to rubber bands. According to my invention, such string binders are provided in an easily-manufacturable form or assemblage, which lends itself to compact packaging, and to ready removal and handling by the user.

Other and further objects and advantages of the invention will more fully appear from the following detailed description thereof, taken in connection with the accompanying drawing, in which:

Fig. 1 is a plan view of an individual binder device as detached from the assemblage of my invention.

Fig. 2 is a perspective view, on a smaller scale, showing the binder applied to a file or to a collection of paper sheets or documents.

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary plan view, illustrating a plurality of such binders in strip or tape form, which, according to my invention, can readily be manufactured and made available to users, in a compact and convenient assemblage or package.

Fig. 4 is a perspective view illustrating the packaging of such a multiple strip assemblage of my improved binders, and the removal from such package of successive individual devices.

Fig. 5 shows an individual binder device provided with tape as a binding element.

Like reference characters refer to like parts in the different figures.

The binder device shown in Fig. 1 comprises a piece of string l of appropriate length for the encirclement of the packages. papers, or other articles on which the binder is to be used, said string I being permanently attached at one end to a terminal or base member 2 of relatively strong and durable sheet material, such as manila or wrapping paper. The means of attachment of the string I to th member 2 is here shown by way of example only, as the well? known button-and-eyelet assembly heretofore generally employed for the attachment of the "tension" closing strings to the flaps of merchandise envelopes, the same including a button or washer 3 of sheet fibre or stiff paper and a metallic eyelet 4 passing through the member 2 and washer 3. Before said eyelet is clinched or set, the end of string l is interposed between the parts 2 and 3 and partly looped around the eyelet, whereby the latters subsequent clinching or setting procures a strong, compact and permanent union between the member- 2, the string I and the washer or button 3.

In the use of a binder device so constituted, the terminal member 2 is applied substantially flatwise against the articles or papers (see Fig.2) that are to be bound together, in such a manner as toexpose the button or washer I; said articles or papers are then encircled by the string l, the free end being used to draw the string tight and to slip it between the member 2 and washer I and to make one or more turns about the neck provided by the eyelet 4, between said member and said washer.

The string binder of my invention thus provides a secure encirclement of the package or other articles on which it is used, said binder being readily applied, and as readily removed. It can be used repeatedly without sufiering wear or damage, and since its structure is unaffected by light and heat, it is far superior to a rubber band as a permanent or semi-permanent binder.

My invention contemplates the provision of such string binders in a form that not only facilitates their very rapid manufacture, but also provides for the packaging of same in large quantities, in a compact and easily-handled form. To this end, as shown in Fig. 3, I prefer to provide the terminal member material in the form of a continuous paper strip or tape 5, the latter having applied thereto at regular intervals the individual assemblies of string, button and eyelet elements I, 3 'and 4 as above described. Said strip or tape 5, either before, during or after such applications, is slit or cut transversely, as shown at 6, 0 Fig. 3, between said applications. This cutting or slitting defines the individual binder units and leaves them connected in the web or strip I by short easily tearable portions 1, 1. The

strip 5 as thus equipped and transversely slit, is formed into'a convenient sized coil. as shown at I, Fig. 4. is coil 8 provides an assemblage which is both compact and stable; the convolutions lie close together, being separated only by the thickness of the washers 3, 3; the thickness of the coil need never be greater than the width of the strip 5, no matter how many convolutions are wound, since despite the attached elements (strings I, I and'buttons 3, 3) the respective lateral edges of the several convolutions are perbreakably-connected binder devices) to be lowered, depending strings foremost, into a substantially square box or container 9 of cardboard or the like, whose sides to completely receive said coil, need only be slightly higher than the width of the strip 5-the slight excess height leaving room in the bottom of the box beneath the coil 8 for the mass 10 of depending strings I, l.

The binders of my invention are preferably supplied to users in this coiled and boxed form. The user, after removing the lid or cover, not shown, of the box, has only to seize and bend upwardly the outermost convolution of the coil 8, and tear off as needed, successive terminal members 2 of the binder units, by a, pull which severs the easily-breakable connecting portions 1, l; the string l of each such torn-off unit separates readily from the mass of strings in the bottom of the box merely by drawing said unit vertically upward, away from the coil 8, as shown in Fig. 4.

fled form of-individual binder wherein the member 2' is provided with a binding element- I in the form of a length of tape which has considerable width as compared to string. It has been found that by using tape. the binding element is less liable to cut into paper documents of a fragile nature, when applied as shown in Fig. 2. 0bviously the tapes will coil readily into the bottom of the box in the same manner as the strings.

I claim:

As a new article of manufacture, a package comprising an outer box container and a coil of detachably connected string binde'r units within said container, each unit consisting of a flexible base member, a button attached thereto, and a flexible string secured thereto at one end at the junction of the button and its base member, the several base members being constituted by a continuous strip of flexible-material having spaced lines of weakness intermediate the spaced buttons and defining the areas of the individual base members, said strip being wound into a compact coil from which the string from each unit freely and independently depends, the thickness of the coil in the direction of its axis being substantially uniform and of a width no greater than the width of said strip, and the units of the coil being so constructed and arranged that the depending strings are separately and individually stacked upon insertion of said coil into said container whereby the individual units may be withdrawn and severed and the individual strings for the units removed by movement away from the axis of the coils so that entanglement of the remaining strings is prevented.

HARRY W. GORDON. 

